AIBU to find city breaks absolutely exhausting?

They can be exhausting. But it is a break and totally different from dislike grind so it is different exhaustion which is much nicer!

I do loads of city breaks - with Dh and with friends - as DH puts it "leave a bit of room for God to walk through". So plan a thing, be it a walk, or an attraction for the morning and afternoon, stop lots for a coffee/drink / nice long lunch. Soak up the atmosphere. If I go with my friends we always book somewhere with a terrace and normally sit there late afternoons with wine, nibbles etc and gossip. Have a little nap. Dinner in or out. If there is SO much to see, we'd go another time. My friend's dh can't sit still and always insists on long hikes/ tandem rental / quick paraglide / 20k steps in a day sort of thing. That sounds exhausting. This year I've been to Warsaw, Malaga and Utrecht and none of it involved rushing round like a loon trying to cram it all in.

Yes, they are, that’s mostly the point for me, trying to see as much as I can and visit as many places as I can. I don’t do tubes and metros or open top buses, and I want to eat and drink all the things, so city breaks always seem to involve 15-20 miles a day early mornings and late nights!

I took my DC to Frankfurt last year for a week. We did sightseeing and shopping days but also we went to an outdoor pool one day, a day in the forest and another day at the botanical gardens which all involved relaxing.

I refuse to do them. I just detest the travelling. Our last trip was by eurostar to Amsterdam - getting through security at St Pancras was a nightmare and the connecting train from Lille broke down. It was a heatwave and huge swathes of the main area were being dug up. It wasn't remotely relaxing.

But my main problem is that I get bored. I don't enjoy museums or galleries any more and it's more about finding things to do to use up time between meals.

I much prefer going to lakes and mountains or the sea. But again the travelling. And I miss the dogs.

My favourite is UK holiday cottages where we just throw everything in the car.

My dh reminds me often that it’s best to leave wanting more…

we stay centrally, take taxis and Ubers as needed. And it’s nice to have a tactical nap as needed. We spend a lot of time in cafes and walking.

@Piggywaspushed ha ha- my H too - I’m frequently like the ‘trailing wife’ about 5 people back - I’ve only got little legs!! ( well in length anyway)

I enjoy a river cruise but I don't recommend the Tiber in Rome. It was woeful!

I often go on a river cruise if it’s available in the city I visit, I get to see things and sit on my bum for a couple of hours. Shows or concerts are good too and often available really cheaply in churches and cathedrals.

Granada is great for providing food with a drink. We rarely "ate out" as, after a few drinks, we'd had enough to move on and then repeat at another bar. Bergamo as well - fabulous cichetti (sp?) a each bar meant we were never hungry enough to justify an actual restaurant.

A bus tour is a great idea. Go round twice and then get off at places you would like to visit.
DH and I (both in mid seventies) did the Glasgow tour recently. We were able to tell my sister-in-law lots of things she didn't know about the city, and she has lived there.

All of you who have nice strolls with their DH's obviously don't own my DH who is capable of walking at Usain Bolt levels of speed whilst I sprint along, huffing and puffing behind. At which point, he claims he is trying to walk 'slowly'.

We had mostly hot, sunny weather in Madrid last week, but some complete downpours, too. One very wet day. Which is fine by me as an Irish person whose natural habit is ‘slight drizzle’.

I'm in my late 40s and find it exhausting too op.

We always go back to the hotel for a nap mid/late afternoon.
And many espressos.

@Kellybonita that's tough health wise & I can see how that would affect your energy & enthusiasm.

I'm 55 & like @TonictheHedgehog we still holiday pretty much like we did in our 20s when we met!

@soupyspoon your day sounds perfect to me. We have friends all over so often we visit a place because we're meeting people or we're attending a specific event & those days are totally structured around that 'activity'

We've also learned to be strategic about zigzagging across cities so if we're doing something in a particular area we'll check out anything else in that area that we want to do including bars & restaurants etc so we make the most of being there

I find having some dinner plans & reservations made v good too as it take the decision making away which can be v nice & we always leave a night or 2 free for more spontaneous, happening across a spot that looks great etc

@Kellybonita that's tough health wise & I can see how that would affect your energy & enthusiasm.

I'm 55 & like @TonictheHedgehog we still holiday pretty much like we did in our 20s when we met!

@soupyspoon your day sounds perfect to me. We have friends all over so often we visit a place because we're meeting people or we're attending a specific event & those days are totally structured around that 'activity'

We've also learned to be strategic about zigzagging across cities so if we're doing something in a particular area we'll check out anything else in that area that we want to do including bars & restaurants etc so we make the most of being there

I find having some dinner plans & reservations made v good too as it take the decision making away which can be v nice & we always leave a night or 2 free for more spontaneous, happening across a spot that looks great etc

Age plays a part but it also depends on how your health is.

Like anything. Everyone has different health.

I'm in my forties.

I have endometriosis and a lot of crippling women's health issues. My periods are agony. I feel too tired to do a lot of travel anymore. I just want to stay home

Age also plays a part. I definitely notice in my forties, having less energy than I did in my thirties.

Blimey, I’m in my early 50s and DH is mid 50s and we still do the kind of city breaks and other holidays we did in our 20s and don’t feel any different. Maybe still having a primary school DC keeps us young 😂 or do things go drastically go downhill in your late 50s?! This thread is worrying me!

Seriously though, the key to a good holiday is a siesta. Activity, nice lunch, wander around for a bit then go back to the room for a nap. Then walk around a new bit of the city where you can then have dinner.

To be honest it's lovely to see it green when flying over they really need the rain here, last year was shocking it was barren

Rome cobbles are really something else!! An ill deserved reputation for good roads in my view, most of their bloody streets are ankle breakers!!
But on the subject of UK cities or towns most people laugh when I say that we enjoyed Hull, stoke on trent, and places like Chichester (not sure if it's a city but it's the same point), but there's something to discover in all places

I'm the opposite, a lie in on holiday makes me feel like I'm wasting my time in a new place! Horses for courses I think - I'm a 'walk more steps a day than I would at home' holidayer and my sister is a 'I'm here to recharge and lie in the sun' holidayer, we went away together last year and both thought the other was insane haha.

I guess if you try to cram everything in, in a few days it probably would be exhausting. Me and a colleague have one planned for September. We've never been away together before. She's 12 years older than me(mid fifties) and I'm happy to go at her pace. It won't be exhausting at all. We can stop as often as we want. We both have a very much, go with the flow attitude. I'd rather it be relaxing than getting stressed cause we didn't have time to see x y or z.

We’re in our 70s and really enjoy city breaks. We have packing in cabin bags down to a fine art. What really makes the difference for us is booking a suite in a 4/5* hotel and having a bit of luxury at the end of the day.

I ordered a gin thing with ice cream (it was delicious!) in Valencia and the waiter brought out a bottle of gin and said, "say when"!!! My DCs were screeching, "when" before I did. I just said I was getting value for money 😎

We've been told that going to another place is relaxing.

But if you think about it, all the planning, the airports, all the train/ bus travel makes it very stressful.

I'd rather just stay at home these days.